As an older pilot, I love the idea of having unlimited and easily available oxygen. This thread inspired me to go the oxygen concentrator route (found a lightly used one for a good deal) but I wanted to come up with a way to make the concentrator as easily accessible, yet out of the way, as possible. After researching some different options, I came across some different seat back organizers that looked promising. Thought I’d share since there was a question earlier about how to mount one of these and this has worked out really well for me.
My idea was to mount a rigid molle panel and use clips to secure the oxygen concentrator to the panel. Then I’d be able to pull the unit off the panel easily, and it would allow me to mount a spare battery alongside the unit. All easily reachable from the left seat.
I threw everything into a single picture that’s numbered (below) and I’ll include product links at the end…
#1 The first step was to super glue money clips to the concentrator and spare battery. This is likely the weakest link in the chain. I used regular super glue and it seems to be holding up just fine after a lot of tinkering with the setup and a couple of actual flights. This may need to be reattached with something different at some point, but so far so good. I went with money clips because they’re reasonably flexible and having the extra length on the backside makes it easier to get the concentrator on and off. The ones I chose are also a little narrower which helps too. I’m using an Inogen One G5 and I had to relocate the stickers on the back to make space for where I wanted the clips to go. I messed up and glued the clips slightly too high to expose the power plug, you can barely the edge of it in the pic. I use batteries, so I left it, but if you plug yours in you'll want to make sure you get that right.
#2 I needed to create a space between the molle panel and the back of the seat so that I could clip things in and out. I got some screw on furniture pads so that nothing would mess up the seat and attached them using some tiny furniture insert nuts along with some tiny flat head bolts so that they wouldn’t get in the way of the stuff I’m trying to hang on the panel. You could use stick on pads, but I wanted a more solid solution.
#3 The next thing to figure out was how to hang it off the seat. Seat back organizers all have a strap that goes around the headrest posts in a car, but since the headrest is just Velcro, I found some garage hooks that were a good size and smooth enough not to mess up the seat. Here’s the backside of the molle panel with everything on. The seat back organizer I found has two identical panels, so you can make 2 of these if you want!
#4 Here’s the front side. (there’s a couple of temporary brackets on the bottom to hold it up while I work on it)
#5 Total weight with unit and 2 double batteries comes in at a little under 10lbs. I think half of that is the batteries.
#6 Mounting it in the plane. I used slightly bigger bolts to hold the hooks on and used thumb nuts with flat head bolts to attach to the panel. I also moved the concentrator and battery over a bit to make room for a bicycle water bottle mount to have a drink holder / headset hanger.
#7 Here’s what it looks like from the side. I had thought that I’d need to connect a strap on the bottom and run it around the seat to hold the panel close to the seat, but it stays right in place without it. That may be something I do later though.
#8 Here’s what it looks like from the left seat. I had an easy time operating it in flight. At one point I wasn’t sure if it was on or not, so I used my phone as a mirror so that I could see the display and that worked well. With the unit oriented this direction, battery swaps work well because you reach underneath to the far side, pull down the lever, and slide the battery out toward you.
#9 Here’s what the hooks look like with the headrest off. Lots of Velcro still exposed for the headrest to grab on to and it isn’t digging into the seat in any way that feels like it’s going to tear it up.
#10 Here’s what it looks like with the headrest back on.
#11 Another view with the headrest back on.
#12 This was the setup with 2 people using the concentrator with regular 4ft cannulas. I found a little aquarium air pump splitter that works great and allows you to shut off the supply to each user without having to disconnect anything.
Here's the pic (recommend r-click open in new window)
Now after flights, all I need to do is pull batteries and throw them on the charger (I purchased a standalone charger). The concentrator just stays right where it is.
Here's my shopping list:
Molle Pannels:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B092PZLTK2/re ... =UTF8&th=1
Stainless steel money clips:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08N42N7M9?re ... asin_title
Furniture sliders:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Q8TQP1H/re ... =UTF8&th=1
Flat head bolts (M4x8):
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CS92QFTZ?re ... title&th=1
Furniture insert nuts (M4x6):
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DNYR9MMS?re ... title&th=1
Garage hooks:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D1XQ5WFF?re ... title&th=1
Flat head bolts (M5x16):
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D35NFF9X?re ... title&th=1
Knurled thumb nuts (M5):
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CZ4GF67V?re ... title&th=1
Oxygen line splitter:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08J7PRCZB?re ... title&th=1
That’s it, enjoy!
